Japan to develop AI applications on public-private platform

Manmath Nayak1 | August 19, 2016 8:19 am

Japan’s Riken research institute, along with over 20 other companies, have created a joint platform to develop applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of medicine, industry and infrastructure.

The Centre for Advanced Integrated Intelligence Research, which will receive state funding of $99.7 million during the next financial year, will open its doors on September 1 in Tokyo, EFE news reported.

It will include the participation of leading Japanese automaker Toyota Motor as well as other tech giants, including Sony and NEC, along with other large Japanese firms and start-ups, the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University.

The centre aims to develop AI systems that will be able to solve specific problems involving large amounts of analyzed data.

One of the specific fields of application is industrial manufacturing, in which Toyota and NEC will work on an AI technology to boost the efficiency of production lines through the analysis of details of the process missed by human workers.

In the field of medicine, Sony’s scientific research wing is developing an AI system to recommend personalised treatments to patients after comparing their medical records with all clinical studies available.

The two projects will be backed by the new public-private platform, with the participating companies too contributing significant funding, apart from providing specialized human and other resources to the centre.